Man City 5-0 Swansea report - 'Damage limitation'

Well, what do you want from Swansea? Manchester City are the champions, and they hammered us for a reason.

The mark of a true champion is their ability to put a side to the sword even when they have already secured their spot at the top.

Ben Darvill

22nd Apr 2018

David Silva, Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Gabriel Jesus were all on the scoresheet, with Swansea pleased to have been beaten by five goals, rather than eight or nine.

The result means nothing

Okay, don’t get me wrong, every game is a chance to pick up points, but there are two fixtures very few teams realistically believe they will get points from, and that is against Liverpool at Anfield and Manchester City at the Etihad. In the end, this match was damage limitation from the start.

Could the Swans keep it respectable? Perhaps a 2-0 win for the champions? Well, no. City have been incredible all season, and while they have been strong at the back, their attack is what has won them the title this year.

They were always going to cut through a Swansea side set up to ensure their hosts did not get into double figures, and it just became an exhibition really.

Swansea only recorded one shot on target in the whole game, and they looked like a side in real trouble. However, since Carlos Carvalhal’s introduction, they have been far, far better.

They actually want to use the ball and attack teams rather than play route one football. Carvalhal has changed a lot at the club as he continues to take them forward, but his biggest test is yet to come.

For Swansea, the only detrimental factor this game had on the table is goal difference. The Swans now have a goal difference of -24, while 18th-placed Southampton have a -20 goal difference.

While the result was never really in doubt, perhaps come the end of the season the fact Swansea conceded five goals could become a factor, for good or for bad.

The biggest battles are yet to come

Games against City and Chelsea are not where the Swans will secure or relinquish their Premier League status.

Matches against Bournemouth, Southampton and Stoke will decide their future and every Swansea fan will agree that if they fail to beat Southampton and Stoke, who are 18th and 19th in the league respectively, then they simply deserve to go down.

Swansea have been handed a very rare chance to save themselves. Usually, a side likely to be in relegation mire come the end of the season will see fans looking to their final few fixtures to find out who they are facing.

"We know where we are, we know what we have done so far and we know exactly what we can do."